By the way, as a fairly recent Chicago alum, I'm very disappointed by the quality (or lack thereof) of trolling you guys are doing on this board. When I went, Chicago was the best school in the country. Yeah, it was ranked 6th, but we held our own and I would put it against Yale or Harvard any day, much less Stanford, which was an IP school and probably still is.

Oh, my alma mater

... who are you?

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"I'm a genius, but I'm a misunderstood genius.""What's misunderstood about you?""Nobody thinks I'm a genius."

"A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day."

giving you a break from the grilling for a minute (, what about clerkships from the following perspective: my northwestern interviewer was trying to sway me away from chicago by pointing out that, while everyone at chicago wants to do a clerkship, only a limited number will be able to (more competition, harder to secure); at northwestern she says everyone's so business-focused that the competition for clerkships is lower - granted you have to get good grades wherever you go, but what are your thoughts on that? is there intense competition for clerkships at chicago? is it something almost everyone (once they find out they've done pretty decently grade-wise) wants to do? or are people just ready to get out and get working at firms?

This is very strange logic. It makes it seem like judges only hire a set number of students from each school. When you apply for clerkships you are competing against people from every school.

Another thing to keep in mind is that not all clerkships are equal.

true (the picture of northwestern i was getting was a pretty rosy one, but this person finished 1st in the class and did a coa clerkship - not too hard to get one of those being first in the class at any t10 i would imagine) - the better question would be this: how deep in the class is it reasonable to expect to be competitive for: 1) coa, 2) district, 3) state supreme court?

By the way, as a fairly recent Chicago alum, I'm very disappointed by the quality (or lack thereof) of trolling you guys are doing on this board. When I went, Chicago was the best school in the country. Yeah, it was ranked 6th, but we held our own and I would put it against Yale or Harvard any day, much less Stanford, which was an IP school and probably still is.

Oh, my alma mater

... who are you?

Before your time. Closer to the class the NLJ250 statistic is from. You aren't doing too bad a job, but that freely kid needs to get some pride. Blushing for even being compared to HYS? Please. Yale is a non-graded savant love-fest where you have no reason to challenge yourself. Stanford is a school that only got where it is thanks to Bill Gates and is equally fruity as Yale. Harvard, maybe before they went to a non-graded system, but even then you only went there if you were a big fan of Elle Wood and cared more about name brand recognition than quality of education. God forbid that a law school actually require you to prove that you learned something and contribute to the academic environment for three years after you've shown that you can take a three hour multiple choice test to get in.

Chicago was the one place you knew you could go to actually get a real education-rigor, intellectual discourse, and a no-nonsense curriculum that wouldn't coddle you for a second. Chicago was the one place where you could have a 177, median, and tell a judge or an employer that your 177 was hard-earned, unlike a helium-filled B+ or a "high pass." Let them pass their classes, we'll earn our keep.

haha this is awesome - this guy makes me want to go to chicago even more

If I didn't get it, others didn't either, but sarcasm never makes a point as well as a direct discussion anyways. Judges and older attorneys almost never get sarcasm, so I guess I'm just getting older.

Well, to directly answer your point, I think I'm getting a great education, but rising from the ashes like a firebeast? The taste of blood dripping from my mouth? Coming out as the hardest, unbreakable rolled steel of a samurai blade?

Dramatic license aside, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Perhaps we've gotten soft since you left, but most of what you write has no relationship to my experience whatsoever. Maybe that's a bad thing, from your vantage point, or from the vantage point of some highly intense 0L, but that's what I know.

I like Chicago. I doubt I would like it if I felt I were being destroyed.

That post had to be parody/schtick, right? If not... yowza... a little much, don't you think? Maybe the school has changed since you attended it because I don't think we share your brand of... fervor. Although I did enjoyed the bit about "taste of your own blood dripping from you mouth." And samurai swords.

I think I agree with the principles behind what you wrote, although certainly not to the extent and tone you use to describe it.

But I do think its idiotic to say that Chicago produces lawyers that are "Better than anything that has ever come out of any ivy league and better than any laid back California atmosphere can produce." I've worked with people from other great law schools, and I think its pretty obviously a stretch to categorically deride the pedagogical model of those schools. People need different environments to succeed. Chicago is a relatively unique environment. I enjoy it and I think its the best one for me. Most of my classmates would probably agree. But for other people, another environment may bring out their best. The law school search isn't about which school produces "the best", but which will make YOU "the best."

God I sound touchy-feely.

PS: I will say that the practical evidence we have of "higher" standards is our grading system, which I greatly prefer to the non-grading system of places Yale, Harvard, and Stanford.

PPS: I'd still love to know who you are. We know quite a few students from "past generations."

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"I'm a genius, but I'm a misunderstood genius.""What's misunderstood about you?""Nobody thinks I'm a genius."

"A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day."

Well, to directly answer your point, I think I'm getting a great education, but rising from the ashes like a firebeast? The taste of blood dripping from my mouth? Coming out as the hardest, unbreakable rolled steel of a samurai blade?

The first rule of a UChicago class/fight club is... you do not talk about class/fight club.

Logged

"I'm a genius, but I'm a misunderstood genius.""What's misunderstood about you?""Nobody thinks I'm a genius."

"A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day."